Healthy Food, Healthy Communities

Healthy Food,Healthy Communities:Improving Access and OpportunitiesThrough Food Retailing

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AcknowledgmentsPolicyLink is grateful to The California Endowment for supporting the development and publication of this report. We would like to thank reviewers MarionStandish, program director at The California Endowment,Rick Jacobus, economic development consultant, andHannah Burton, program coordinator at The Food Trust,along with the many practitioners interviewed, for theirfeedback in the development of this report. Helpful background information for this report was provided by the California 5 a Day Campaign, a program of theCalifornia Department of Health Services, through itsdraft paper, Community Solutions to Limited Access inAfrican American Communities.1

All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2005 PolicyLink and The California Endowment

Principal AuthorsRebecca FlournoySarah Treuhaft

PolicyLink TeamJudith Bell Latonia Ellingberg Victor RubinMilly Hawk Daniel Katrin Kärk Mildred Thompson

U.S. Census Bureau, “Summary File 3.” 2000 Census. Available from http://www.census.gov/.

U.S. Conference of Mayors. Hunger and Homelessness Survey. Available fromhttp://www.usmayors.org/uscm/hungersurvey/2003/onlinereport/HungerAndHomelessnessReport2003.pdf.

U.S. Department of Agriculture. National Directory of Farmers Market and Direct Marketing Associations 2001. Available fromhttp://www.ams.usda.gov/directmarketing/associations.htm.

U.S. Department of Agriculture. Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Programs. Available from http://www.nemw.org/farmersmarkets/senior.html.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Trends Data. Available from http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/brfss/Trends/trendchart.asp?qkey=10010&state=US.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity.Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Office of the Surgeon General, 2001. Available from http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/obesity/.

U.S. Department of the Treasury. Available from http://www.ustreas.gov/.

USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, Adding Values to Our Food System: An Economic Analysis of SustainableCommunity Food Systems. Everson, WA: Integrity Systems Cooperative, 1997.

VNU USA, Redefining Retail. Bill Communications, 2001.

Weaver, Jim. Empower Partners, Lancaster, PA. Interviewed by PolicyLink, July 2005.

Wrigley, N., Warm, D., and Margetts, B. “Deprivation, Diet and Food Retail Access: Findings from the Leeds ‘Food Deserts’ Study.” Environment and Planning A, no. 34, 2002.

Turcsik, Richard. “Taking Root: A Suburban-style Pathmark Blossoms in New York’s Harlem.” Progressive Grocer, vol. 78, no. 7. 1999. UCLA Pollution Prevention Education and Research Center, Homeward Bound: Food-Related Transportation Strategies in Low Income and Transit-Dependent Communities. Los Angeles, CA: University of California, Los Angeles, 1997.

UCLA Pollution Prevention Education and Research Center, Homeward Bound: Food-Related Transportation Strategies in Low Income and Transit-Dependent Communities. Los Angeles, CA: University of California, Los Angeles, 1997.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Employment and Training Institute. Available at www.uwm.edu/Dept/ETI/PurchasingPower/purchasing.htm.Uribes, S. “Southwest Fresno Group Lobbies for Major Grocery Store,” The Fresno Bee, June 17, 1995.

PolicyLink is a national, nonprofit research, communications,capacity building, and advocacy organization, dedicated toadvancing policies to achieve economic and social equity basedon the wisdom, voice, and experience of local constituencies.


Preface 1

PrefaceLike other states across the country, California faces an obesity epidemic. During the 1990s,obesity rates in the state doubled. Rates are highest and have risen the most among people ofcolor, who also face the highest rates of obesity-related health problems such as diabetes andheart disease. A 2005 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that,because of the rapid rise in obesity rates, today’s youth may live shorter lives than their parents.These findings highlight the urgent need for action and leadership to address the obesity epidemic.

The California Endowment is investing significant resources through multiple programs to addresshealth disparities in California. In 2005, The California Endowment launched Healthy Eating, ActiveCommunities, a $26 million initiative that aims to fight the growing childhood obesity epidemic.PolicyLink, a national, nonprofit research, communications, capacity building, and advocacyorganization dedicated to advancing economic and social equity, developed this report to addressone important contributor to disparities in obesity and related health conditions: the limited accessthat many residents of low-income communities and communities of color have to affordable, healthyfood. Without opportunities to purchase healthy food, residents in low-income communities havelimited options for healthy eating and often resort to purchasing and consuming unhealthy foodsthat are often found at local corner stores or fast food restaurants. This contributes to obesity, andultimately, to poor health.

There is an emerging consensus among researchers and practitioners that conditions in thecommunities where people live—from local economic opportunities, to social interactions withneighbors, to the physical environment, to services such as local stores where people can buyhealthy food—all affect health. This paper builds on earlier work about the effects of communityfactors on health that was developed by PolicyLink in partnership with The California Endowmentin the report, Reducing Health Disparities Through a Focus on Communities.

Increasing local healthy food retailing can improve the health of residents and the broader healthof the communities in which they live. Individuals make their own dietary choices, but they makethese choices within a context. Policymakers, business leaders, funders and advocates should takebold leadership to make it easier for all Californians, and particularly those suffering most fromobesity and related health problems, to make healthy choices.

Robert K. Ross, M.D. Angela Glover BlackwellPresident and CEO Founder and CEOThe California Endowment PolicyLink

Increasing local healthy food retailing can

improve the health of residentsand the broader health of the communities

in which they live.

Table of Contents 3

Executive Summary 4

Introduction 8

Disparities in Access to Healthy Food and Why It Matters

Disparities in Access to Healthy Food 10

Why Access Matters 11

Roots of the Access Gap 14

New Food Retailing Opportunities in Underserved Markets 15

Strategies and Policy Opportunities to Improve Access to Healthy Food

Introduction 18

Developing New Grocery Stores 20

Improving Existing Small Stores 28

Starting and Sustaining Farmers’ Markets 32

Other Options 38

Conclusion 40

Notes 42

Bibliography 46

Table of Contents

4 Healthy Food, Healthy Communities: Improving Access and Opportunities Through Food Retailing

For decades, low-income urban and ruralcommunities have faced limited opportunitiesto purchase healthy food. In the 1960s and1970s, white, middle-class families left urbancenters for homes in the suburbs, andsupermarkets fled with them—taking jobs and tax revenues along with their offerings ofhealthy, affordable food. Low-income urbanresidents with limited transportation optionsdid much of their shopping at small localstores that had limited selection and highprices. Rural communities, like underservedurban areas, confronted limited and high-priced food options, and did not benefit fromthe jobs and revenues a grocery store couldbring. Advocates sought to increase access tohealthy food, but for decades the problemseemed intractable. The poor paid more fortheir food and had fewer healthy, affordableoptions. There were few examples of successfulstrategies to improve access to healthy foods.

Disparities in access continue today, contributingto obesity and related health problems. Inrecent decades, obesity rates have risendramatically. The good news, however, isthat there are now many strategies beingimplemented across the country to addressthis issue. Many of these strategies highlightunique opportunities for health advocates,community residents, and policy-makers topartner with the private sector.

The case studies presented in this report showthat access to healthy, reasonably priced foodin low-income communities of color can beachieved—with dramatic results. Newgrocery stores can locate in poorcommunities and spur economic development.Existing small stores can stock healthieroptions, promoting local small businessdevelopment, and in some cases turning aplace seen as a community problem into anasset. Farmers’ markets can help sustainsmall farmers while providing fresh food forresidents, opportunities for small businessdevelopment, and a public space for increasedsocial interaction. Residents can benefit froma renewed sense that they live in a vibrant,healthy community.

Many communities in California have highrates of obesity and limited access to foodretailers selling high quality, affordable,healthy food. This report offers concernedresidents, policymakers, business leaders, andadvocates ideas and strategies for improvingaccess to healthy food in underservedcommunities across California. While thereare challenges to increasing healthy foodretailing, there are also many examples ofhow these challenges have been overcome in states and communities across the country.This report highlights three of the mostpromising strategies: developing new grocery

Executive Summary

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Executive Summary 5

stores, improving the selection and quality of food in existing smaller stores, andstarting and sustaining farmers’ markets.

Develop New Grocery StoresAttracting a new grocery store can bechallenging: the process can be lengthy and complex; retailers perceive low-incomeneighborhoods as unprofitable locations with high operating costs; appropriate sitesare hard to find; securing financing isdifficult; and stores may not be able to meetthe needs of diverse consumers. To overcomethese challenges, stakeholders can:

• Create financing sources dedicated to grocerystore ventures in underserved communities.State and city governments, private funders,and community development intermediariescan earmark funds for grocery store developments in underserved communities.Pennsylvania recently passed landmarklegislation to achieve this goal.

• Develop and use better information tools toassess underserved markets. Grocery storeexecutives need to use accurate data andmarket analyses to ensure that decisionsabout building new stores are based on thereal business opportunities that exist inlow-income communities.

• Reduce operating costs while better serving thecommunity. Community organizations canassist stores in identifying and trainingemployees, as well as working to ensurestore and customer security. Grocery storescan increase per-trip purchases of urbanconsumers by providing free or low-costtransportation to customers.

• Facilitate site identification and development.To secure land for new grocery stores, citiescan launch initiatives to reclaim vacantland and abandoned properties and toclean up brownfields. Grocery stores canadapt to fit into existing smaller sites.

• Adapt practices to meet consumer needs. Bycommunicating directly with residents,grocery stores can gather more informationabout local customer preferences. In addition,stores can develop relationships with localsuppliers, allowing them to better meetconsumers’ needs while also contributing to community economic development.

• Develop partnerships. Communityorganizations can be importantpartners—sometimes even owners andoperators—in grocery store development,increasing community acceptance,increasing patronage, lowering theft rates, and increasing benefits to thecommunity. Political leaders and publicagencies also can be important allies.

Improve Existing Small StoresImproving the selection, quality, and pricesof goods at existing small stores requiresovercoming the challenges of competingwith larger stores located outside thecommunity, convincing stores to changetheir practices or merchandise selection, and overcoming negative residentperceptions of underperforming stores.

• Collaborate to reduce costs. Smallneighborhood stores can collaborate with other smaller stores to leverage their collective buying power and engage in joint purchasing.


• Link with local farmers and farmers’ markets.Small grocers can obtain produce directlyfrom local farmers or farmers who alreadysell at area farmers’ markets.

• Reduce the risk for small stores. Communitygroups can encourage small stores to increase shelf space for fresh produce by generating community support andinterest, documenting unmet demand,subsidizing the cost of adding the newmerchandise, and providing assistancewith techniques for buying, selling, anddisplaying produce.

• Conduct community outreach. Stores thatbegin offering more healthy food can engagein promotional activities to potentialcustomers. Community organizations can assist in this work.

• Connect stores with small business developmentresources. Financial and technical assistanceresources for small businesses can be targetedto small-scale food retailers in low-incomecommunities who are willing to improvetheir selection of healthy foods or makeother changes to better meet the needs of local customers.

Start and Sustain Farmers’ MarketsFarmers’ markets locating in low-incomecommunities face the challenges of raisingfunds to organize the market, attaining thenecessary customer and vendor base tosustain the market, and, since the switch toelectronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards forfood stamps, accepting public benefits.

• Build community support. Communityorganizing and support can increase the successof markets in low-income communities.

• Expand the WIC and Seniors Farmers’Market Nutrition Programs. California stategovernment can increase the amountprovided to WIC participants and seniorsin coupons that can be used to purchasefresh fruits and vegetables at farmers’ markets.These coupons help sustain farmers’ marketsin low-income communities.

• Link farmers with additional markets.Farm-to-institution programs that connect farmers to public schools,universities, hospitals, correctionalfacilities, and restaurants can increasefarmers’ profit margins, enabling their continued participation in farmers’ markets.

• Disseminate farmers’ market-friendly EBTsystems. California currently has a successfulstatewide pilot program that provides EBTequipment to farmers’ markets, waives theusual transactions fees, and reaches out tofood stamp recipients to let them knowthe location of farmers’ markets that acceptEBT cards. This program should becontinued and improved.

• Establish and support farmers’ associations.Farmers’ market associations can connectfarmers with existing markets, arrange forthem to share costs for transportation andstorage, provide technical assistance onestablishing new markets in low-incomecommunities, and offer additional benefits.

Executive Summary 7

• Provide business development and marketingassistance to vendors. Farmers and localvendors can benefit from individualtechnical assistance and small businessdevelopment training programs to improve a range of business practicesincluding accounting, marketing, andproduct management.

This report also briefly describes alternative options for increasing access to healthy foods. These include: improvingtransportation options to enable residents totravel to stores outside their neighborhood;public markets; mobile markets; cooperativegrocery stores; farm-to-school initiatives;community-supported agriculture; andcommunity gardens.

Many options exist to increase access tohealthy food in underserved communities.Implementing these options can both improvethe health of residents and spark localeconomic development. Leaders across thecountry have demonstrated that barriers tohealthy food retailing can be overcome.Policymakers, foundations, communityorganizations, concerned residents, businessleaders, researchers, and advocates shouldjoin together to identify and implementinnovative solutions.


This report focuses on increasing access toretail outlets that sell nutritious and affordablefood in low-income communities of color.Making healthy food choices easilyaccessible is an important strategy to reduceobesity, which is increasing at an alarmingrate in the state of California and nationwide.2

The obesity epidemic, and related healthproblems like diabetes and heart disease,disproportionately affects low-income people of color.3

Scientists and medical professionals agree thatpoor diet and lack of physical activity are keycontributors to obesity.4 Individuals makechoices about their eating and exercise habits, but their choices are affected by theenvironments in which they live. Reducingthe obesity problem requires a comprehensiveapproach. Advocates are addressing theproblem from multiple fronts, working tomaintain federal and local nutritionassistance and emergency food assistanceprograms, using education to influenceindividual choices about diet and exercise,and engaging in advocacy to improveopportunities for healthy eating and physical activity.

One important reason many poor familieshave poor diets is because they lack access to places that sell decent quality, nutritiousfoods at affordable prices. Many studies

have shown that low-income communities of color have fewer supermarkets thanwealthier, white communities.5 Families in these communities are forced to makedifficult choices about their food purchasesbecause of this “grocery gap,” along withincome and time constraints that result frompoverty. The poor are less likely than othersto own cars, so they spend long periods oftime riding on public transit or coordinatingoccasional rides with friends or extendedfamily to distant supermarkets. In betweenthese trips, people choose foods that can be purchased quickly and cheaply near their homes. In many low-income urbanneighborhoods and rural communities, theonly choices are foods high in fat, calories,and sugar that are available at convenienceand corner stores and fast food restaurants.

Increasing access to healthy food retailing is an important strategy to improve diets inlow-income communities of color—yet nopublic official or agency regulates or evenmonitors communities’ access to retailersselling nutritious, affordable food. Concernedresidents and community groups often take it upon themselves to advocate and plan for new stores. Policymakers and otherstakeholders, however, can and should play important roles in increasing access in underserved communities.

Introduction

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Introduction 9

The challenges to increasing healthy foodaccess in low-income communities of color-from businesses’ misperceptions aboutlocal purchasing power, to corner store owners’fears about stocking new food items thatmight not sell, to the need for funds to hire a coordinator for a farmers’ market—can beovercome. There are stories of communitiesin California and across the country that have successfully overcome the “grocery gap.”This report presents strategies and policy

opportunities to help other underservedcommunities replicate these successes.

With a realistic assessment of the challenges,an eye on effective models, and organizedcommunities advocating for change, successcan be achieved. The result is a doublebottom line profits for food retailers, andsocial, economic, and health benefits forresidents and the community.

West Fresno Food Maxx Supermarket 6

In 1995, little new development was occurring in West Fresno, a once thriving community composed of mostlyAfrican American and some Latino residents. For many years, residents had hoped that the Fresno City Councilwould allocate funds to improve neighborhood conditions. Concerned residents gathered together to prioritizewhat they most wanted from the city to spur development and decided construction of a supermarket was atthe top of their list. The small food stores in the area charged high prices for little selection, and many residentshad to depend on the bus to access the selection, quality, and prices available at supermarkets in other parts of the city.

Residents began advocating to bring a supermarket to their community. The Affordable Housing Coalition, whichincluded churches and community groups, held a news conference in front of a supermarket in another part ofthe city, where members carried empty grocery bags and demanded that the Fresno City Council set asidemoney from its $11 million Community Development Block Grant to build a shopping center in their community.Over several years, these concerned residents continued to strategize and advocate in a variety of settings. Theyattended public hearings conducted by the city on community development block grant funds and met with citycouncil members, the director of the city’s redevelopment agency, and other public officials. Coalition membersgot residents to sign petitions and turned out hundreds of residents at city council meetings. They also workedwith the media, held press conferences, wrote editorials, built relationships with local reporters, and receivedongoing coverage of their struggle in the Fresno Bee.

Once their supermarket campaign gained political support, the coalition continued to move the project forward.They ensured that the city allocated redevelopment funds to help build the super-market; helped local governmentofficials negotiate with local property owners to secure the land for the site; worked to ensure that jobs went tolocal residents; urged the city to make an agreement with a developer; got a police station built to ensuresecurity at the shopping center; and urged the city to approve final zoning for the market.

Four years later, the supermarket opened. It has now been serving the community successfully for more thanfive years.


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Disparities in Access to Healthy Food

Geographic Access is Linked to Race and IncomeMany studies have documented the lack of supermarkets in poor communities andcommunities of color compared to wealthier, white communities:

• One study found that middle and upperincome communities in Los Angeles Countyhave 2.3 times as many supermarkets percapita as low-income communities; thesame study found that predominantlywhite communities have 3.2 times thesupermarkets of predominantly blackcommunities, and 1.7 times those ofpredominantly Latino communities;7

• A multi-state study found that wealthyneighborhoods had over three times as many supermarkets as low-wealthneighborhoods. Access also varied by race,with predominantly white neighborhoodshaving four times more supermarkets thanpredominantly black neighborhoods.8

• In Atlanta, wealthy black communities have fewer grocery stores within a five-minute travel distance than wealthy white communities, indicating that the racial composition of a neighborhood haseffects on store locations independent ofincome level.9

Not only are grocery stores scarce in many of these communities, but local residentstypically lack transportation options to easilyget to stores located in other parts of town.Low-income, African American, and Latinohouseholds have less access to private vehiclesthan higher income and white households.10

Without access to private vehicles, residentsof low-income communities often need toarrange rides with friends or relatives, piecetogether multiple bus routes, or pay for taxirides to do their grocery shopping. This makesshopping for groceries costly, or inconvenient,unreliable, and time-consuming. For example,residents of low-income communities in the San Francisco Bay Area who rely onpublic buses to travel to a grocery storespend about an hour commuting to and from the store.11 The average resident inaffluent communities in the area can reach

Disparities in Access to HealthyFood and Why It Matters

Disparities in Access to Healthy Food and Why it Matters 11

more than three supermarkets by car within10 minutes round-trip.12

Myser Keels, a resident and communityactivist who was involved in a coalition thatbrought a supermarket to underserved WestFresno, highlighted the problem caused by ascarcity of stores and limited transportationoptions at a press conference:13

“We want choices. Some poor people use publictransportation and they don’t haul all the groceriesthey need on the bus. And if they call a cab, the fare alone can put them in the hole. Some of the senior citizens I know have trouble gettingaround because they can’t move like they usedto. They have to rely on other folks to take themshopping .... It’s just a tragedy that we don’thave a decent shopping center in our area.”

The Poor Pay More for FoodShopping trips to supermarkets, the lack ofnearby stores and limited transportationoptions lead low-income residents to shop at small stores located closer to their homes.These small stores, though more convenient,generally offer fewer healthy foods, arepoorly maintained, and charge higher prices.The smaller grocery stores, conveniencestores, and grocery/gas combinationscommonly patronized by poor inner city andrural residents charge prices that are about 10 percent higher than those found at largechain supermarkets.14 Prices at the cornerstores that dot inner city neighborhoods, forexample, can be much as 49 percent higherthan those of supermarkets, for a limitedselection of canned and processed foods andvery little, if any, fresh meat and produce.15

Why Access Matters

Benefits for ResidentsStudies have shown that access to localplaces to purchase healthy food can improveeating behaviors:

• A United States study found that AfricanAmericans living in neighborhoods withat least one supermarket were more likely to meet dietary guidelines for fruit andvegetable consumption and for fat intake than African Americans living inneighborhoods without supermarkets.Additional nearby supermarkets resultedin even greater fruit and vegetableconsumption.16 This remained true even after the researchers statisticallycontrolled for the effects of education and income on food choices.

• In a low-income neighborhood in England,the opening of a supermarket resulted inan increase in the amount fruits andvegetables eaten by residents. Thoseresidents with the poorest dietary habitsbefore the store opened increased theirconsumption of healthy food the most.17

• An evaluation of eight Philadelphiafarmers’ markets operating primarily inlow-income communities found that more than half the visitors to the markets(57 percent) said they had increased theirfruit and vegetable consumption sincethey started coming to the market.18


Benefits for CommunitiesIn addition to the effects on individualeating behaviors, successful healthy foodretailers contribute to the broader economichealth of the community. Grocery stores,along with other types of retail and serviceslike banks, pharmacies, and restaurants, are essential components of livable and well-functioning communities.

Low-income residents often live indistressed, high-poverty communities thathave experienced years of population andjob loss, and physical and economic decline.New grocery store developments can helprevitalize these communities, contributing to economic development. In addition tocreating jobs for local residents, new storescreate local shopping opportunities that can capture dollars being spent outside of the community. One study estimated thatresidents of inner city communities acrossthe United States spend $85 million per yearat stores located outside their community.19

New retailers also recycle money in the localeconomy. As purchasers of goods and services,the retailers spend money at existing localbusinesses, which leads to the creation ofnew jobs, which leads to more money forpeople to spend at local businesses. This cycle also generates more local sales taxrevenue. While all retail outlets can havethis effect, new large grocery stores andsupermarkets that locate in disinvestedcommunities often also serve as high volume “anchors” that generate increasedfoot traffic, and they tend to draw otherretail stores that sell complementary goods and services.20

The Pathmark supermarket in Newark’sCentral Ward provides a striking example of how a new grocery store can contribute tocommunity revitalization. The Central Wardis an African-American community thatsuffers from severe poverty, depopulation due to white flight, and disinvestment.When Pathmark opened its doors in 1990, it was the first supermarket to serve the55,000-person community in 25 years. The supermarket anchors the NewCommunity Shopping Center, and theentire development is jointly owned andoperated by Pathmark and the NewCommunity Corporation (NCC), afaith-based community organization. Thesupermarket has created thousands of jobs,and since NCC owns 66 percent of thesupermarket and all of the other businessesin the center, profits are channeled directlyback into the community through theorganization’s housing, child care, jobtraining, and educational activities.21

Market Creek Plaza in the DiamondNeighborhoods of San Diego providesanother example of the community benefits that can accompany a grocery store development. Around a third ofresidents in this area have incomes of lessthan $20,000 a year, and 30 percent ofresidents do not have access to a car. TheJacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation(JCNI), an operating foundation dedicatedto neighborhood strengthening andcommunity building, will invest all of itsresources into the Diamond Neighborhoodsuntil it spends or transfers all its assets, inless than 20 years. JCNI purchased 10 acresof land for Market Creek Plaza, a commercial


real estate project that is being designed,built, and will ultimately be owned bycommunity residents. Food 4 Less, whichopened four years ago, was selected by thecommunity as the anchor tenant for thedevelopment, and was the first major grocerystore in the area in thirty years. Sixty-ninepercent of the construction contracts for theplaza were awarded to local minority-ownedenterprises, and 91 percent of initialemployees were hired from the community

in a process run jointly with the UnitedFood and Commercial Workers union.Additional stores built in the plaza includeethnic restaurants, a fitness center, a bank, and a gift shop featuring crafts of local residents from many cultures. Residents will eventually own a new communityfoundation and a property developmentbusiness as a result of JCNI’s investmentsand ongoing efforts to promote “residentownership of neighborhood change.”

Rural California: Limited Food Access in a Land of Plenty

Although much research has been done on food access in inner city communities, less is understood about the food access problems faced by rural communities. Existing studies suggeststhat despite their proximity to some of the most productive agricultural areas in the world, manyrural residents have little access to fresh, healthy foods.22 The rural poor have limited access tosupermarkets, and even when they do reach supermarkets, they face prices that are about 4 percent higher than those charged by suburban stores.23 And while rural households generallyhave access to cars, those that do not are particularly burdened given the lack of publictransportation options in rural areas. Many rural farmworkers, for example, have limited access tocars, and therefore have little mobility to reach stores beyond their immediate neighborhoods.24

Some of the promising strategies and policy options for improving access to healthy food outlinedin this report are also relevant for rural underserved communities. Community organizationshave successfully brought supermarkets to low-income rural areas. Dineh CooperativesIncorporated, a community development corporation on the Navajo Nation, built a Basha’sMarket in rural Chinle, Arizona that created over 170 jobs for local residents. The store has been profitable since its opening and has been expanded four times.25 Other types of foodretailers also show promise. The Selma Flea Market in rural Fresno County, California was thefirst flea market in the nation to accept electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards (food stamps) for purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables.26 Other good potential strategies for rural areasinclude: mobile markets, which are trucks that travel through communities selling healthy food; improved public transportation; community supported agriculture; and farmers’ marketsorganized by hospitals or other institutions or businesses.


Roots of the Access Gap

Discriminatory public and private policieshave left people of color isolated fromeconomic opportunity and services.Beginning in the 1930s, the federal governmenthelped subsidize homeownership by insuringlow-interest private bank loans for homemortgages.27 The government developed an appraisal method that categorized andmapped city neighborhoods based on their“desirability” for lending. African Americanand low-income neighborhoods—outlined inred on the maps—were considered the leastdesirable. This practice of discriminatingagainst neighborhoods on the basis of racebecame known as “redlining.” Communitiesof color were systematically denied loans until the practice was outlawed in 1970. The maps became self-fulfilling prophesiesthat hastened neighborhood decline and disinvestment.

These trends of neighborhood declinehappened as the white middle classpopulation left urban centers in droves forhomes in the suburbs in the 1960s and1970s. Supermarkets, along with many other businesses, fled inner city locationsand opened new stores in the suburbs, taking with them jobs and tax revenues inaddition to their selection of healthy food.For example, in Rochester, New York, from1970 to 1995, the number of supermarketsdeclined from 42 to 8.28 Cut off fromopportunity and investment, inner cityneighborhoods declined precipitously,becoming increasingly isolated and raciallysegregated. The only food retailers left in the

neighborhood were small independentgroceries that charged high prices andoffered minimal variety, or corner storesselling a limited selection of processed foods.29

Once they left the city, supermarkets adaptedtheir operations to fit their new suburbanlocations. Suburbs contained abundant,inexpensive sites for development, and theirresidents had high rates of car ownershipthat enabled them to drive to stores locatedfarther from their homes. As a result,retailers adopted bigger store formats withlarge parking lots. Because the movement tothe suburbs was largely restricted to whites,and because suburbs were fairly homogenouswith respect to income, communities hadrelatively similar product preferences. Largechain retailers developed business modelsthat they applied across all the stores in theirchain.30 To stock their stores at the lowestprices, they developed long-term contractswith large suppliers who offered price breaksin exchange for chain retailers’ vastpurchasing power. A new business modelemerged with across-the-board changes inindustry practices starting with developmentdecisions and extending through productselection and marketing.

A number of recent studies demonstrate howthe marketing analyses influencing retailers’location decisions systematically undervalueinner city neighborhoods.31 Some havereferred to these modern business practicesas “retail redlining,” the shunning ofminority communities by retailers.


Researchers have highlighted a number ofproblems with the data and market analysesof private marketing firms and the ways theyare used by grocery store decision makers.These firms use national data sources whichtend to undercount inner city residents,especially minorities. Alternative marketstudies that use local data sources often findthat population and purchasing power inlow-income communities of color issignificantly higher than figures given bytraditional market analyses. A study of twoWashington D.C. neighborhoods by SocialCompact, for example, found that Censusfigures underestimated the population of theColumbia Heights-Petworth neighborhoodby as much as 55 percent, and of theAnacostia-Hillcrest neighborhood by asmuch as 13 percent.32 Another problem isthat retailers often look at average householdincome rather than at total area income,which would more accurately capture thedensity and therefore purchasing power ofurban neighborhoods.

Private marketing firms’ characterization of low-income communities of color is alsoproblematic. These firms use demographicand consumer spending data to categorizecommunities into pre-established“neighborhood types” ranked by investmentpotential. These neighborhood types withshort names like “Difficult Times” draw onracial and class-based stereotypes. For example,one firm describes the residents of northsideAfrican American neighborhoods inMilwaukee as “very low income families[who] buy video games, dine at fast foodchicken restaurants, use non-prescription

cough syrup, and use laundries andlaundromats.” The same company describesthe residents of the suburban, white NorthShore community as “interested in civicactivities, volunteer work, contributions, andtravel.”33 These descriptions are extremelysubjective and are not accurate portrayals of the business potential of low-incomecommunities of color. They can steerbusiness decision makers away from locatingin these communities, even when there areactually significant opportunities in theseunderserved areas.

New Food Retailing Opportunitiesin Underserved Markets

Academics and business organizations havebegun recognizing the competitive advantageof inner cities—density of purchasing power,limited competition, and available laborforce.34 Some supermarkets, faced withsaturated suburban markets and competitionfrom mass discounters such as Wal-Mart,have been able to move beyond assumptionsabout race and spending power to seepotential opportunities in low-incomecommunities of color.

Striking success is possible for stores thatmove into underserved, low-incomecommunities. For example, Pathmark andSuper Stop & Shop—two leading grocerystore chains in the Northeast—have foundthat their highest grossing stores are in low-income communities.35 In addition to the potential profits to be made,supermarkets benefit by locating in


low-income communities of color becausethese store locations can help the entirechain understand how to better meet the needs of the increasingly racially andethnically diverse suburbs.36

It is possible to achieve win-win solutions for businesses and communities—a doublebottom line of financial return andcommunity benefit. With a realisticevaluation of their potential for success in underserved communities—driven byaccurate data and not clouded by racialstereotypes and assumptions—food retailerscan identify and take advantage ofopportunities in untapped markets. At the same time, increased food retailing

options in underserved neighborhoods often translate to health and economicdevelopment benefits for residents and their communities.

These success stories are too few and farbetween. Some low-income communitieshave won improved access to healthy food,but many more still face a significant“grocery gap.” The promising food accessmodels described in this report provideimportant lessons for those who seek toimprove resident and community healththrough access to healthy food. They pointto new strategies and policy interventionsthat can lead to win-win solutions for foodretailers and communities.


Studies have shown that access to

local places to purchase healthy food

can improve eating behaviors.


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Introduction

Community residents, advocates, foundations,business leaders, and policymakers can allplay important roles in improving access tohealthy food in communities across the state.The following section describes three of themost promising options for increasing access:

• Developing New Grocery Stores• Improving Existing Small Stores• Starting and Sustaining Farmers’ Markets

Each option is described in terms of itsparticular benefits and challenges, and theinnovative strategies and policy opportunitiesthat stakeholders can champion, implement,or fund. Not every strategy will work forevery community. The chart on thefollowing page highlights some of the keydifferences between the three healthy foodaccess options described in this report.

Following these three primary options, wealso briefly highlight alternative options for increasing access to healthy foods,including: transportation options; publicmarkets; mobile markets; cooperative grocerystores; farm-to-school initiatives; communitysupported agriculture; and community gardens.

Getting StartedEvery community has unique assets, challenges,and goals. To identify the best option forimproving food access, some communitiesconduct community food assessments (CFAs),or other participatory research that examinesa community’s access to healthy food todetermine actions to improve it. To date,about 40 CFAs have been completed in theUnited States-about half of them in California.37

Another way to plan for improved food access is to include food access concerns intoexisting planning processes for neighborhoodrevitalization. While these processes rarelyintegrate the concern for resident health withcommunity economic development, pressurefrom food access advocates can lead to win-win solutions. Other communities assess needs and develop strategies throughmore informal processes such as ongoingdiscussions with other concerned neighbors.In West Fresno, for example (see case study,page 9), discussions among concernedneighbors inspired a sustained advocacyeffort that resulted in a new supermarketfor the community.

Strategies and Policy Opportunitiesto Improve Access to Healthy Food

Strategies and Policy Opportunities to Improve Access to Healthy Food 19

Customer Base

The California Nutrition Network

The California Nutrition Network and California 5 a Day Campaign, which are programs withinthe California Department of Health Services, recognize that key elements to foster healthyeating habits among low-income families include community based interventions, mediaadvocacy, and policy and environmental efforts designed to encourage low-income Californiansto make healthy choices. The network and the campaign have worked with community memberson assessments of their neighborhoods to identify assets and barriers related to fruit andvegetable consumption. They also provide training and tools such as neighborhood mapping(available at www.cnngis.org) for local advocates and community based organizations. Ascommunity programs emerge and greater needs are identified, hopefully state government will be able to help build and support their development and implementation.

Options for Increasing Access to Healthy Food: Key Differences

Complexity / Time

Developing New Grocery Stores Improving Existing Neighborhood Stores Starting and Sustaining Farmers’ Markets

Land

Complex and time-consuming. Land mustbe identified and purchased. Significantfinancing must be accessed. Supermarketchains need to be convinced that the areacan support a store. Regulatory processessuch as zoning and the constructionprocess also take time.

A significant challenge, but lesscomplex and requires lesstime. Can see results sooner.

A significant challenge, but lesscomplex and requires lesstime. Can see results sooner.

The average supermarket is 44,000 squarefeet, and new stores are usually much larger.They require ample parking lots, and areoften anchors to much larger developmentsthat include other retail stores. Smaller grocerystores are typically 10,000 to 12,000 feetand may fit into existing sites.

Requires no new land sincethe stores already exist.

Only requires a parking lot, ablocked off street, or another publicspace that can be used for shortperiods of time.

Funding

Customer Base

New supermarkets require millions of dollarsto construct and operate. Smaller grocerystores are less expensive but still cost over a million dollars.

Re-outfitting a corner store tosell fresh produce can cost lessthan $100,000 in technicalassistance, equipment, andinitial inventory.38

A reasonable first year budget isapproximately $34,000, thoughmarkets can cost as little as $2,000or as much as $150,000 per year.39

Supermarkets require extremely high volumeand so must draw shoppers from beyond asingle immediate neighborhood. It’s importantto consider whether residents in adjacentneighborhoods would come to a newsupermarket. Heavily trafficked roads canincrease potential customer base. Smallergrocery stores can rely more on neighborhoodcustomer bases.

It is helpful to demonstratecommunity interest in purchasinghealthy foods so that storeownersknow that they will be able tosell whatever produce theypurchase and still make a profit.

Need enough customers to beworth the farmers’ time at themarket and transportation costs, as well as enough profit to pay for a market coordinator.


Developing New Grocery Stores

In communities without access to a quality,full-service grocery store, bringing a newgrocery store to the area is a high priority.Often, residents want a large, suburban-stylesupermarket or a “superstore” with arecognizable name to locate in theircommunity. Supermarkets are defined by theindustry as full-service grocery stores thatbring in over $2 million in sales annually,though the average sales volume is muchhigher-over $18 million.40 Attracting such astore to an underserved community canbring many rewards, but because of theirbusiness models and size, large supermarketsare usually the most difficult type of grocerystore to bring to a low-income community.

Other types of grocery stores, such as smaller,independently owned stores, can be successfulin low-income communities and may offercomparable prices as well as more specializedproducts that are attuned to local consumers’tastes and preferences. Independent grocershave proven that they can be successful inlow-income communities, and they havegreater flexibility to adapt their merchandisemix and practices to meet consumers’ needs.“Limited assortment” stores like the nationalSave-A-Lot chain offer deeply discountedmerchandise. That chain, in particular, hascommitted to locating in urban and rural areasthat lack access to larger, more conventionalstores, as well as enhancing its producedepartment in response to customer demand.41

Neighborhood Groceries: Solving the Supermarket Dilemma

Because supermarkets need to move large quantities of merchandise in order to turn a profit,they serve areas that are much larger than one neighborhood and require very large sites thatare extremely difficult to assemble in dense urban areas. Not every community can support thisfood retailing model.

One potential solution to this dilemma is the development of viable smaller-scale grocery storesthat can provide the variety, quality, and price of supermarkets while relying on a smallercustomer base and fitting into smaller spaces. Neighborhood groceries can both increase foodaccess and fit into community visions for walkable, livable neighborhoods that promote physicalactivity, thus addressing the obesity problem from multiple angles.

Finding a scalable small-store model should be a priority for food advocates, communities, andretailers. Ethnic markets, greengrocers, specialty stores, and limited assortment stores couldprove useful in developing these models since they sometimes successfully locate on smallersites in underserved communities.


“Specialty” stores such as Whole Foods Marketscan be successful in “dual market” areas that comprise both low-income and middle-income neighborhoods.

Developing a new grocery store can bringmany health and economic benefits tocommunities, but there are also many barriersto overcome. As previously described, whensupermarkets fled the city for suburbanlocations in the 1960s, they developedbusiness models suited for the suburbs. In addition, food retailers rely oninformation sources that undercount thepopulation and spending power—and thusthe profitability—of inner city locations, andthat rely on stereotypes of both urban andrural communities. In spite of significantchallenges, a number of innovative strategiesare being developed across the country toovercome these barriers.

BenefitsSelection, quality, and price. Full-servicegrocery stores carry a wide selection of low-priced goods. Supermarkets enable one-stop shopping and often houseadditional services that are difficult to find in underserved neighborhoods, such as pharmacies or in-store banks.

Jobs. New grocery stores bring needed jobsto communities that often have high levelsof unemployment. Each supermarket createsanywhere between 100 and 200 permanentjobs, many of which go to local residents, andthey also provide temporary construction jobs.42

A large proportion of grocery employees belongto unions and receive benefits. Almost all ofthe major chains in California are unionized.

Community economic development. Grocerystores can spur local economic developmentin underserved communities. Newdevelopments often pave the way foradditional private sector investment, sincegrocery stores are high-volume magnets thatsupport complementary stores and serviceslike pharmacies, video rentals, andrestaurants. With more places to spendmoney locally, these stores capture residents’ dollars that were formerly“leaking” out to other communities. When community-serving institutions like community development corporations(CDCs) hold ownership interests in thestores, they reinvest profits into thecommunity through their other activitiessuch as local affordable housing constructionor small business development.

Tax revenue for municipalities. Grocerystore developments bring needed revenue to cash-strapped municipalities through salesand property taxes. Community residentsbenefit through tax-financed city services.

Physical revitalization. New stores contributeto the physical revitalization of communitiesby returning abandoned and vacant land toproductive use.

ChallengesPerception of profitability. Supermarkets—withannual profit margins averaging onepercent—are focused on a very tight bottomline and often cite lack of profitability as a barrier to investment in underservedcommunities. A survey of retail executivesfound that their top three concerns wereinsufficient customer base, lack of consumer


purchasing power, and crime or perceptionof crime. Other concerns included higheroperating costs in urban locations due toadditional expenses for security, insurance,and real estate taxes.43 Customers’ smalleraverage purchase sizes and more frequentshopping trips can also lead to higheroperating costs since stores need to hireadditional cashiers to cover the highervolume of transactions.

Securing a site. Grocery stores have largeand growing site requirements. They needample parking lots and are often built as apart of much larger retail developments thatsit on 10 or more acres of land. Such sitesare difficult to find in densely built urbanareas, where land is expensive, ownership isfragmented, and sites may be environmentallycontaminated. Negotiating the zoning andregulatory processes involved in landacquisition can also be burdensome.

Assembling the land needed to build a newstore can take years, and may require litigationand municipal intervention. For example,acquiring the 62 parcels for the NCCPathmark development in Newark, NewJersey, described on page 12, took eightyears, including six years of lobbying the state to exercise its power to condemnsome of the properties, and two years of legalbattles involving the last six absentee owners.44

Obtaining financing. Grocery storedevelopments are multi-million dollar realestate deals that require high levels of start-up and operating capital. Financingthese costs means combining grants andloans from multiple public and privatesources, including commercial banks,

community development intermediaries,state and local economic developmentprograms, and federal agencies such as HUD, the Department of Human Services,and the Department of Commerce.45

Harlem’s Abyssinian DevelopmentCorporation (see page 23) assembled loansfrom four private banks, a communitydevelopment intermediary, and a stateeconomic development agency; federal and state grants; and an equity investmentfrom a private equity fund to finance the $15 million development of the firstPathmark supermarket in Harlem.46

Meeting the needs of diverse consumers.Shifting their operations from models thatsuit historically homogenous suburbancommunities to ones that meet the needs of racially-mixed communities and theincreasingly diverse suburbs presents achallenge for large chain grocers. They lacksound, unbiased information on communitydemographics and consumer preferences, and they are locked into contracts withsuppliers to stock the same merchandise in all of their stores based on what sells in suburban markets.

Complexity. One of the biggest obstacles forcommunities that want to bring a grocerystore to their area is the amount of time and complexity involved in commercial real estate development. Supermarketdevelopments are exceptionally large, risky, and difficult deals to pull together, and often require specialized negotiationskills and expertise.47


Innovative Strategies and Policy OptionsCreate financing options. Public and privateinstitutions can develop non-conventionalsources of capital that can be used to finance grocery store ventures inunderserved communities.

• State and city agencies can create fundingpools earmarked for grocery storedevelopments. In 2003, Pennsylvaniapassed landmark legislation to fund thedevelopment of fresh food retailers,including grocery stores and farmers’markets in underserved communitiesthroughout the state (see page 27).

• In 2000, the federal government enactedthe New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC)program, a $15 billion federal taxinitiative designed to increase investmentcapital in low-income communities.Community development organizationscan apply to receive the tax credits, whichare offered to private investors whocommit to equity investments in businessdevelopments that serve low-incomecommunities.50 The case study on page 27shows how the NMTC program cancontribute to grocery store development.

• Community development intermediariescan also help community/grocery store

Harlem’s Pathmark Supermarket

In Harlem, two community organizations—The Community Association of East Harlem AbyssinianTriangle (EHAT) and the Abyssinian Development Corporation—worked for ten years to bring asupermarket to the community. When it opened in 1999, the 64,000 square foot, $15 millionretail center anchored by a Pathmark supermarket was one of the new real estatedevelopments that catalyzed Harlem’s recent commercial renaissance.

Community involvement was critical to the project. EHAT and Abyssinian secured projectfinancing, leveraging three dollars of private sector funds for every dollar of public funding. They also negotiated an agreement with Pathmark to guarantee that at least 75 percent of the new jobs would go to local residents.48

The store faced many challenges along the way. Small local grocers, worried that they would be driven out of business by the new supermarket, protested the development. The majority of residents, however, welcomed the new store. EHAT helped them advocate for thedevelopment, the smaller grocers’ protest subsided, and the building process continued.

The store has been extremely successful. Data from 1999 showed that the supermarket met orexceeded industry averages in almost every category. An in-store bank branch has opened inthe supermarket and provides residents with a safe, secure environment where they can dotheir banking. The store now has one of the largest produce departments in New York City.49


partnerships access needed capital. From1992 to 2000, the Local InitiativesSupport Corporation (LISC) operated The Retail Initiative, an equity fund thatprovided development financing andtechnical assistance to supermarketdevelopments in nine low-incomecommunities. Though The RetailInitiative is no longer operating, local LISC offices continue to assist with financing the development of grocery stores.

Develop and Use Better Information Toolsto Assess Underserved Markets

• Innovative market analyses. Responding tothe inadequacy of traditional marketinganalyses, companies such as SocialCompact and MetroEdge have developedalternative market assessment methodsthat more accurately describe the businessconditions in underserved communities.Their results often indicate much higherinvestment potential than shown bytraditional analyses.

• Accurate and timely information databases.To bridge the information gap inunderserved communities, cities andcommunity development intermediariesaround the country are developingsophisticated databases on propertyavailability, crime conditions, localdemographics, and other indicators toinform development. The Urban MarketsInitiative of the Brookings Institution, forexample, is partnering with the NationalNeighborhood Indicators Partnership andaffiliated organizations in Baltimore,Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Providence,

and Washington, D.C., to developcomprehensive information databases toguide investment decisions in these cities.

• Existing free resources. There are freeresources already available online that canprovide insight into how a communitymight be viewed by retailers. TheUniversity of Wisconsin-MilwaukeeEmployment and Training Institute offersfree profiles of purchasing power, businessactivity, and workforce density for Censustracts and zip codes within the 100 largestmetropolitan areas in the United States.51

Another free resource is www.esribis.com,which provides profiles of any communitybased on zip codes. Though this resource is less relevant to the largest grocery storeretailers, smaller retailers do use thesereports in their decision-making.52

Reduce Operating Costs While BetterServing the Community

• Provide return transportation to increasepurchase size. Grocery stores can reducecosts that relate to the more frequent,smaller per-trip purchases of consumers by providing free or low-cost returntransportation to customers in exchangefor minimum purchase sizes. In Los Angeles,Numero Uno Market and Ralphs operatesuch transportation services from some oftheir stores. The Ralphs located in theWest Adams neighborhood adjacent tothe University of Southern California, forexample, offers a free return trip tocustomers who spend $25. A feasibilityanalysis of grocery shuttle services foundthat they can pay for themselves withintwo to 10 months.53


• Partner with community groups to find and keep good employees. Communityorganizations can assist stores inidentifying and training employees. This reduces the stores’ costs for employeerecruitment and training, improvesemployee retention, and can increase the likelihood that jobs in the storewill go to neighborhood residents.

Facilitate Site Identification and Development

• Reclaim vacant and abandoned properties.Many distressed communities containthousands of parcels of vacant land thatcan be returned to productive use. Inrecent years, many cities including Flint,Philadelphia, Richmond and Baltimore(see box, below) have launched ambitiousinitiatives to reclaim their vacantproperties by streamlining the landacquisition process, actively scouting out sites, and marketing sites to potential developers.54

• Clean up brownfields that are potential store sites. Aggressively cleaning upbrownfields, or contaminated sites, canfree up land for productive use and providesites for new grocery stores. Cities canassess which brownfield sites have thepotential to house grocery stores, prioritizethese sites for remediation, and apply for funding sources that seek to harnessbrownfields for economic development in low-income communities, such asHUD’s Brownfields EconomicDevelopment Initiative.

• Adapt store formats to fit existing sites.Given the difficulty in finding large sites in cities-and increasing interest in more compact urban developmentpatterns-some supermarkets are adaptingtheir site requirements to work within the constraints of the existing urbanenvironment, experimenting with smallerstore formats, reducing their parkingrequirements in areas with heavy foot

Project 5000: Reclaiming Land for Grocery Stores

Baltimore mayor Martin O’Malley has prioritized returning the city’s vacant properties to productiveuse as well as bringing new grocery stores to the city. In January 2002, he launched Project 5000,a plan to reclaim 5,000 of the city’s 14,000 vacant and abandoned parcels.

The city is making progress with acquiring properties, and the Baltimore Development Corporation,the city’s quasi-public economic development arm, works closely with developers to assembleland for grocery store development. The city has also developed CitiStat, a parcel-basedinformation system that enables the city to track its progress toward to Project 5000 goal.

Actively reclaiming properties and prioritizing supermarket development is a winning combinationfor healthy food access: since O’Malley took office, 18 new grocery stores have located in the city.55


traffic, and renovating existing structures.In Boston’s Lower Mills neighborhood, forexample, the Shaw’s chain located a new40,000-square foot supermarket—70 percentof its average store size—in a retrofittedchocolate warehouse.56 Smaller grocerystores can also be a more feasible optionfor areas with limited land.

Adapt Practices to Meet Consumer Needs

• Cultivate relationships with local suppliers.Stores can better meet the specificpreferences of diverse consumers whilecontributing to economic developmentand building goodwill in the communityby developing relationships with localsuppliers. When Schnucks opened the first supermarket in the predominantlyAfrican-American North St. Louiscommunity in 50 years, it faced thechallenge of meeting customer demand for certain products, such as a good sweetpotato pie. After searching for a supplier,the store found a popular pie at Hooper’sBetter Bakery, a local store, and providedthe bakery with capital and technicalassistance to improve its productionprocess. The improvements were sosuccessful that the bakery reorganized as a supplier and now provides over 15Shnucks supermarkets with a growingvariety of pies.57

• Gather better information on customerpreferences. To capture markets in diversecommunities, retailers need to make theextra effort to learn how to cater to thesecommunities’ needs and tastes. Successfulretailers are meeting this challenge byobtaining information more directly from

employees and area residents. They haveconducted focus groups with residents,solicited community input on products atcommunity meetings, and ordered newproducts upon customer request.58

Develop partnerships. Communityorganizations are often critical partners ingrocery store development. Communitydevelopment corporations (CDCs) mayadvocate for a city to provide assistance,garner community support, negotiate zoningand regulatory issues, help stores obtain belowmarket-rate financing, and assist with employeeselection and training. Community-basedorganizations and food councils can advocatefor local grocery store development by engagingpublic agencies, seeking high level politicalsupport, and conducting neighborhoodactivities designed to solidify residentbacking.59 Retailers say that communityinvolvement is essential for success inunderserved markets and can increasecommunity acceptance, which leads tohigher patronage and lower theft rates.60

• Increase community capacity to partner instore development. Community organizationsneed various skills, including advocacy,research, market analyses, and commercialreal estate expertise, to engage in grocerystore development. Technical assistanceand training programs that are specificallygeared toward these needs can help buildtheir capacity to bring new stores to thecommunities in which they work.Community development intermediariessuch as LISC, the Enterprise Foundation,and National Congress for CommunityEconomic Development often providesuch assistance. Local political leaders also


The Food Trust and Pennsylvania’s Legislation to Finance Fresh Food Markets inUnderserved Communities

In April 2003, Pennsylvania passed the nation’s first statewide economic development initiativeaimed at improving access to markets that sell healthy food in underserved rural and urbancommunities. The legislation devotes $100 million of Governor Ed Rendell’s $2.3 billioneconomic stimulus package to agriculture projects, including the development of grocery storesand farmers’ markets.61 At the same time, the governor created an innovative new $40 millionleveraged fund (the Fresh Food Financing Initiative), which will support the development of 10 new stores in underserved urban and rural communities across Pennsylvania.62

The supermarket legislation could not have been passed without the extensive research,advocacy, and leadership of The Food Trust, a nonprofit organization that develops programsand policies to promote food access and healthy eating. In 2001, the Trust released a report,Food For Every Child: The Need for More Supermarkets in Philadelphia, which found that poorsupermarket access in Philadelphia is linked to the high incidence of diet-related diseases inmany low-income neighborhoods. In response to the findings, Philadelphia City CouncilmanBlondell Reynolds Brown asked The Food Trust to convene a task force to produce a reportrecommending policy changes to improve the availability of affordable, nutritious food inunderserved areas of Philadelphia. This task force comprised over 40 experts from citygovernment, the supermarket industry, and the civic sector. One of the group’s recommendationswas a statewide initiative to fund the development of new food retailers. State RepresentativeDwight Evans stepped forward to help make this recommendation a reality by pushing for itsinclusion in the state’s economic stimulus package.

Along with the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition and The Reinvestment Fund (TRF),The Food Trust is now charged with implementing the Fresh Food Financing Initiative (FFFI). The initiative was awarded $10 million by the Governor, and TRF is leveraging this money with private bank loans and its New Markets Tax Credits allocation to form a $40 millionfinancing pool for fresh food retailers that locate in communities that are underserved byconventional financial institutions. The initiative will provide a range of financing resources such as pre-development grants and loans, land acquisition and equipment financing,capital grants for project funding gaps and construction, and permanent finance.

The first supermarket to be funded by FFFI, ShopRite of Island Avenue in southwest Philadelphia,opened on September 20, 2004. The 57,000 square foot supermarket created 258 jobs, overhalf of which went to local residents.63


can be important allies in advocating forgrocery store development.

Improving Existing Small Stores

Communities without supermarketsgenerally contain a base of smaller grocerystores, specialty stores, ethnic markets,convenience stores, or corner stores. Theseare the only available nearby food resourcefor residents with limited or no access tocars, and they generally do not provide thesame selection, quality, and prices of largergrocery stores. They often lack produce andother nutritious foods, offer low qualitygoods and services, are poorly maintained,and charge high prices.

Improving the product mix at these stores,and addressing other issues of viability suchas pricing, food quality and freshness, andcustomer service, is a strategy to enhanceaccess to healthy food in underservedcommunities that builds upon existingcommunity resources, and may be morefeasible in some communities that facesignificant challenges to developing largenew grocery stores. A number of initiativesin places such as Baltimore, Detroit,Philadelphia, San Francisco, and the White Mountain and San Carlos Apachereservations are working to develop modelsfor creating “healthy small stores” incommunities that suffer from a lack of access to affordable and nutritious food.

BenefitsLess complex, less expensive, and requiresless time than building a new store.

Improving existing stores takes far less timeand money, and requires fewer steps, thanbuilding a new store in the community.

Merchandise tailored to communities.Smaller stores, particularly those that areindependently owned, have more flexibilitythan large chain supermarkets to tailor theirmerchandise mix to meet customerpreferences. In addition, stores with a long history in the community often have extensive knowledge about the specific tastes and desires of residents.

Small business development. A common localeconomic development strategy in low-incomecommunities is to nurture and support smallbusinesses and to encourage entrepreneurshipamong residents. Improving the viability ofsmaller food stores serves this goal.

Community building. Improving the quality of a small store that has historically beenviewed as a community problem—such as a corner store that primarily operates as a liquor store—into a community asset, can build relationships between localmerchants and residents and contribute to community revitalization.

ChallengesMatching the low prices, quality, andselection of larger grocery stores. Smallmerchants face the same costs of conductingbusiness as larger grocery stores but do nothave the same scale advantages that cantranslate into lower prices for customers.They purchase in smaller quantities so theymust pay higher wholesale costs, and theyface limited competition, which leaves them


with less incentive to maintain competitiveprices.64 They also have lower merchandiseturnover, which can lead to poor qualityproduce and loss due to spoilage.

Risk of changing product selection. Existingsmall stores risk losing profits when theyalter their product selection. Because shelfspace is limited and turnover is slow,merchants stock only the products they arecertain will sell and rarely experiment withnew items.65 Convenience store owners whoare part of a franchise generally have little tono flexibility to change their product mix.66

Customer acceptance and expectations.Smaller stores are not always highly valuedby community residents, who see them asinferior to the large supermarkets typical inwealthier communities. When the smallerstores charge more, residents may feelexploited and shop elsewhere. When smallerstores are owned by people that belong to adifferent ethnic group than the majority ofcommunity residents, there can be racialtensions. Small corner stores that operate asde facto liquor stores are often linked withcrime and alcohol-related health problems.

Innovative Strategies andPolicy OpportunitiesCollaborate to reduce costs. Creativecollaborations can help smaller stores addressthe challenges of higher wholesaler costs.Small stores can collaborate to leverage theircollective buying power and engage in jointpurchasing to get the lowest prices. Thistype of collaboration has enabled somesmaller independents to compete with chainsupermarkets. In the 1990s, for example,

participation in a grocery store cooperative,Certified Grocers of California, facilitatedthe rise of independent grocery stores in Los Angeles.67 A potential model for abuying cooperative that could be pursued byfood retailers is Ace Hardware stores, whichare owned and operated separately, but areunited under a brand name, and purchasecollaboratively to obtain the lowest prices.68

Link with local farmers and farmers’markets. Small grocers can cut their costs bypurchasing their produce directly from localfarmers or farmers who already sell at areafarmers’ markets. This strategy can also help farmers by adding a new market tosupplement their sales.

Reduce the risk for corner stores.Community stakeholders can help convincestore owners to stock more healthy food andreduce the risk they face in altering theirfood selection through a number of strategies.The Good Neighbor campaign of Literacyfor Environmental Justice (see page 31)incorporated all of the following strategies:

• Promote healthy stores and healthy eating inthe community. Activities such as tastetests and cooking demonstrations thatincrease resident awareness about healthyeating and food preparation can beconducted inside the stores or in othercommunity locations, such as schools.These activities help increase demand forthe new healthy food carried by the store.

• Demonstrate customer demand. Communitygroups can document the lack of access tohealthy food in the community and


highlight interest in healthier alternatives.They can disseminate their findings tomerchants and the community.

• Provide technical assistance and resources.Often small stores are not used to dealingwith perishable goods and need helpexpanding into this merchandise area.Community groups or interested governmentagencies can collaborate with local storesto implement fresh food options bysubsidizing the purchase of new equipmentand initial produce stock while storeowners test local demand for the food, and by providing technical assistanceconcerning how best to purchase,display, and market perishable foods.

Connect stores with small businessdevelopment resources. Cities usually makeavailable an array of financial and technicalassistance resources to small businesseslocated in underserved communities.69 Theseresources can be directed to stores that arewilling to improve their selection of healthyfoods and/or institute new practices to bettermeet the needs of low-income customers.Retailers could take out low-cost loans tooutfit their store to sell produce and buyinitial new stock produce. They could takeadvantage of technical assistance to helpthem tailor their merchandise to communityneeds, train employees in how to buy andsell perishable goods, market their newproducts, and improve their general businessplanning. To improve the overall quality ofcorner stores to make them more appealingshopping sites, city agencies and communityorganizations can conduct outreach to small

stores to increase their awareness of existingresources. They can also create smallbusiness programs that are specificallytailored to the financial and training needsof neighborhood grocers.

Conduct community outreach. Stores thatare shifting their product mix to includehealthy food options can engage in intensivepromotional activities to ensure thatpotential customers are aware of their newproducts and efforts to contribute tocommunity health. This could includepromotional flyers, open houses, raffles for produce, and other creative ideas.70

They can also work with communityorganizations, which have established tieswith residents, to notify the communityabout the improved stores.


Making Good Neighbors: Literacy for Environmental Justice’s Campaign forHealthy Food Stores

Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ) is a community based nonprofit organization that engagesyouth in projects that improve the urban environment in Bayview Hunters Point, a low-incomecommunity of color in southeast San Francisco. In 2000, LEJ undertook an assessment of thecommunity’s food environment to identify and promote strategies to improve access tonutritious food in the neighborhood. The study was done in partnership with San FranciscoDepartment of Public Health. Youth interns at LEJ participated in the research by surveyingcommunity members about their shopping needs and desires, and interviewing merchantsabout how they could stock healthier foods and build relationships with the community.Researchers also assessed the mix of food sold in corner stores. The interns found that cornerstores were a primary food shopping destination for residents, and that these stores devoted an average of only 2 percent of shelf space to fresh food.

LEJ then launched the Good Neighbor Program, a partnership between Bayview’s communitybased organizations, businesses, and city government to improve the quality of foods availablein Bayview Hunter’s Point. Six to eight youth interns participate in the program every year. Theprogram developed criteria that define “good” store neighbors, including: devoting at least 10percent of inventory to fresh produce and an additional 10 to 20 percent of inventory to otherhealthy foods; accepting food stamps; limiting tobacco and alcohol promotion; and adhering to environmental and health standards. Stores that agree to comply with these criteria receivetechnical assistance and training, energy efficiency upgrades, and marketing assistance. Theyalso receive grants to make initial purchases of healthy foods and test how the items sell. Thishelps reduce the risk for store owners as they stock new merchandise.

LEJ is currently partnering with a small neighborhood grocery store, Super Save Grocery, to pilothow a Good Neighbor agreement would work. In exchange for the store’s commitment to stockfresh, healthy food, LEJ is engaging in outreach and promotion, encouraging the community topatronize the store through activities such as nutrition education and food tasting. The groupalso arranged for Whole Foods Market to provide free technical assistance to help Super Savebetter display the new produce. Since initiation of the program, sales of produce have increasedby 15 percent.71 LEJ is attempting to continue their efforts by partnering with eight stores withinthe next two years.


Starting and SustainingFarmers’ Markets

In recent years there has been a resurgenceof farmers’ markets that provide freshproduce and other goods to communitieswhile also providing local farmers with adirect source of income. From 1994 to 2002,the number of farmers’ markets grew almost80%, with more than 3,100 in operation in2002. California has over 400 markets-themost of any state—and with its extendedgrowing season many of the markets are ayear-round source of healthy food.72

Farmers’ markets can be importantsupplementary food sources, although theylack the wide variety and consistent selectionof grocery stores. They range in size fromcommunity-based markets to large marketsrun by an organization and serving severalthousand shoppers. Farmers’ markets areusually held once a week but are occasionallymore frequent. They differ from grocery storesand corner stores in that they are organizedas nonprofit, community-serving entities andthus combine social and economic objectives.Their vendors need to make profits, but themarkets themselves are not profit-seekingentities. At the same time, their operationscost money, so they must make enoughmoney to cover their expenses.

Nationwide, more farmers’ markets are locatingin low-income communities, providingconvenient access to fresh, affordable, andnutritious food. The markets can be successful,but they face the challenge of balancingcustomers’ need for low prices with vendors’needs for fair returns.

BenefitsProvide access to fresh produce at lowprices. Because of the cost savings to farmersfrom selling directly to consumers, farmers’markets offer prices that are often lower thanthose of nearby grocery stores. A survey that compared the prices of six southernCalifornia farmers’ markets with nearbygrocery stores found that the markets offeredlower prices than grocery stores, with anaverage cost savings of 28 percent.73 Otherstudies have found farmers’ markets offersavings of 10 to 18 percent compared to supermarkets.74

Less complex, less expensive, and requiresless time than building a new store.Developing a farmers’ market is far lesscomplicated, time-consuming, and expensivethan building a new grocery store in anunderserved community.

Sustain small and medium-sized farms.Smaller-scale farmers who face highcompetition from larger, industrializedagriculture can increase their viability byselling their goods at farmers’ markets, wherereturns are generally 200-250 percent higherthan what they receive from wholesalers.75

Entrepreneurial opportunities. Farmers’markets can serve as small businessincubators, providing opportunities forresidents to sell items such as baked goods,jams, or crafts. Vending in farmers’ and otherpublic markets requires very low start-upcapital-usually less than $1,000—and may be a great pathway to upward mobility forlow-income residents.76


Social and educational opportunities. Farmers’markets provide a space for interaction andlearning that shoppers are not likely to findat conventional food markets. Communityorganizations often conduct outreach oreducational activities-including nutritionaleducation-at farmers’ markets. And shoppersoften cite that they attend the marketspartially for social reasons.77

ChallengesStart-up and operating costs. Establishing afarmers’ market requires funding for initialcosts, including purchasing equipment,promoting the market, and recruitingfarmers to participate. The market also needsto hire a coordinator. Because of these costs,farmers’ markets locating in low-incomecommunities often require subsidies.78

Sustainability. To be sustainable, farmers’markets need to attain sufficient scale, withenough farmers and vendors to attractcustomers, and enough customers to make it worthwhile for farmers to travel to themarket. To be self-sustaining, participatingfarmers and vendors need to be able tocontribute a portion of their profits to pay

someone to coordinate the market’s activities.One expert estimates that a market needsroughly 20 farmers to support a full-time staff person.79

Accepting public benefits. Hundreds ofCalifornia farmers’ markets are authorized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture toaccept food stamps and many of thesemarkets depend on them as a major source of revenue. But changes in the publicbenefits system have made it difficult forfarmers’ markets to accept food stamps. Thenew automated system, called ElectronicsBenefits Transfer (EBT), allows food stamprecipients to use a plastic card to accessbenefits. As of March 2004, 51 ofCalifornia’s 58 counties had decided toimplement the EBT system.80 There arebenefits to the EBT card since it couldincrease participation in the food stampprogram by making it less stigmatizing toredeem benefits. Retailers who wish toaccept EBT cards, however, must obtain a point-of-sale (POS) device to processtransactions. This is a barrier for farmers’markets, which lack the essential telephoneservice and electrical power needed tooperate such POS devices.

A Key Ingredient for Success: Increasing Demand for Healthy Food

Strategies to increase food retailing located in low-income communities are most successful whenpartnered with strategies that work to increase the ability and desire of consumers to purchasehealthier foods. Ensuring that people have the nutritional knowledge to make the right food choices,understand how to prepare healthy meals, and have enough money to purchase these foods areimportant strategies that supplement the food retailing options described in this report. Many ofthe case studies we highlight throughout this paper include nutrition education efforts.

continued on page 34


Innovative Strategies and Policy OpportunitiesBuild community support. Evaluations offarmers’ markets in low-income communitieshave shown that community organizing andsupport are essential to successful markets.83

In 1980, initiators of Pasadena’s CertifiedFarmers’ Market employed an explicitcommunity-organizing model to start themarket, conducting community outreach withchurches and local nonprofit organizations.The market is still operating after 25 years,and organizers partially attribute its longevityto community support.84

Expand the WIC and Senior Farmers’Market Nutrition Programs. The WIC

Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (FMNP)was established in 1992 to provide fresh, locally-grown fruits and vegetables to WICrecipients, and to increase awareness andpatronage of farmers’ markets. The SeniorFarmers’ Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP),established in 2001, extends the program tolow-income seniors. Both programs provideparticipants with coupons which they canredeem for locally grown fruits and vegetablesat farmers’ markets or roadside produce stands.Seniors can also use their coupons toparticipate in community-supportedagriculture programs (see page 39). Thefederal government provides most of thefunding for these programs, but states mustapply to participate and fund a portion of the

A Key Ingredient for Success: Increasing Demand for Healthy Food(continued from page 33)

Increasing the participation of low-income communities in federal nutrition assistance programsincluding the food stamp program and the Women with Infants and Children program (WIC) is also key to improving access to healthy foods. Both of these programs are underutilized.Participation in the food stamp program has declined steeply since the 1996 welfare reformlegislation made it more difficult to access benefits. California has one of the lowest participationrates in the nation: the Food Research and Action Center estimates that food stamp participationin California decreased by 7.4 percent between 1999 and 2004. As of 2001, only 54 percent of eligible Californians were participating in the food stamp program and only 70 percent ofeligible Californians participated in WIC.81

These programs increase the purchasing power of low-income residents. Because poorresidents are clustered in poor neighborhoods, if all of those who were eligible for thesebenefits took advantage of them, their neighborhoods would look more attractive to retailersand could support more stores.

A clear example of how strategies to increase purchasing power can increase access to healthyfood in communities is the WIC and Seniors Farmers’ Market Nutrition Programs (describedbelow), which enable low-income WIC mothers, children, and senior citizens to buy producefrom farmers’ markets, and provide the additional purchasing power that helps sustain farmers’markets in low-income neighborhoods. Nationwide, the programs add up to $39 million inpurchasing power for recipients, and are a significant source of revenue for farmers.82


administrative costs of the program.85 Over40 states currently participate, serving over 3million people per year.86 In 2005, CaliforniaWIC families and seniors who qualify for thebenefit receive $20 worth of coupons.87

There is not enough funding for all of thosewho are eligible to participate in theseprograms, and funding is dependent on yearlybudget processes. In California, the FMNPprogram has been severely underfunded, withthe biggest hurdle being the state matchingfunds.88 Continued vigilance is needed tomaintain and expand these programs.

Link farmers with additional markets.Linking the farmers who sell their goods atfarmers’ markets in low-income communitiesto additional, reliable markets can increasetheir profit margins and improve thesustainability of the farmers’ market. A numberof farm-to-institution programs that connectfarmers to public schools, universities, hospitals,correctional facilities, and restaurantsillustrate the viability of this strategy.89

• A program run by The Ecology Center, a nonprofit organization in Berkeley,purchases produce from a local farmers’market and then transports it to a localday-care center, where staff resell it andprovide nutritional education to parents as they arrive to pick up their children.90

• Compton Unified School District developedan agreement with a farmers’ cooperativeto stock daily salad bars in 10 elementaryschools, and the district plans to extendthe program to all 24 elementary schoolsby Spring 2005.91

Disseminate farmers’ market-friendly EBTsystems. New wireless technology is nowavailable that enables farmers’ markets toaccept EBT cards. In California, state andcounty agencies and community advocatesare helping to pilot a wireless point-of-sale(POS) device in 17 farmers’ markets withthe highest food stamp redemptions byproviding the equipment, waiving transactionfees for the use of the EBT cards, andconducting outreach to let recipients knowwhere they can use their cards.92,93 The statehas also provided wireless POS devices to alimited number of individual merchants andproduce stand operators. The POS devicesare helping to address the steep reduction infood stamp redemption volume that occurredafter the transfer from paper coupons toEBT, but there are still issues that need to be addressed, such as problems withconnectivity at some locations.94 State effortsto increase the use of EBT cards at farmers’markets and produce stands should besustained and improved.

Establish and support farmers’ collaboratives.Farmers can benefit from working together.They can share the costs of cold storagefacilities, transportation, and marketing,and advocate for policies that impactfarmers’ markets and their ability to servelow-income communities. Forty-one farmers’market associations have been establishedacross the country that accomplish some orall of these goals.95 Southland Farmers’Market Association (SFMA), for example,represents 22 farmers’ markets and morethan 400 growers in Southern California.96

One of the association’s goals is to establishnew markets in underserved communities:they have secured initial funding for three


Kaiser Permanente Farmers’ Markets Creating a Win, Win, Win: Helping Members,Staff, Farmers, and the Community

Kaiser Permanente, the nation’s largest non profit health maintenance organization, currentlyhosts 12 farmers’ markets and plans to operate 20-25 sites by late 2005. This includes newmarkets in California’s rural Central Valley, Hawaii, Maryland, and Oregon. Driven by a desire toimprove health conditions for health plan members, staff, and community residents, Kaiser’s top administrators wanted to address community factors that contribute to individual health.Launching weekly farmers’ markets keeps Kaiser moving forward in its mission of being aleader in preventive health and healthy living while increasing access to healthy food in low-income communities and providing small family farmers with new sales opportunities.

Kaiser has three models of farmers’ markets. In their Farmers’ Market Association model, anassociation coordinates the logistics related to setting up and maintaining the market and Kaiser provides the space and promotes the market. In their Community Collaboration model, a community organization purchases produce from small farmers and transports and sells it atmarkets. This model reduces the time burden on farmers, and provides opportunities for at-riskyouth or other community members to participate in selling the goods at the market. In theirUnbrokered model, Kaiser works directly with one or two farmers without involving an association.

Kaiser is exploring creative ways to further its farmers’ market impact. The institution convened a workgroup to explore strategies to build on current successes and expand them into changesin policy. The workgroup is drafting policies that incorporate local purchasing into the hospital’sprocurement practices. Kaiser is considering purchasing as much as 20 percent of the foodused in its hospitals, cafeterias and business meetings from local organic growers.

new markets in low-income neighborhoodsin Los Angeles. The group also maintainsdatabases to help farmers connect them withnew markets, provides technical assistanceon establishing new markets, advocates forthe Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program, andlobbies for policy changes that reduce costsfor farmers to participate in markets.

Provide business development andmarketing assistance to vendors. Targetedtechnical assistance programs can help make

vending at farmers’ markets more profitablefor local entrepreneurs. Some programs assisturban gardeners with selling at farmers’markets. For example, Cornell CooperativeExtension’s New Farmers/New Marketsprogram trains New York City residents in fruit and vegetable production andmarketing.97 Existing small businessdevelopment training programs can helpresidents sell baked goods or non-food items at farmers’ markets.


West Oakland’s Mandela Farmers’ Market: Connecting Black Farmers to Black Communities

West Oakland, California is a low-income African-American community that has long suffered from a lack ofaccess to healthy food. The last full-service grocery store in the neighborhood closed its doors in 1993. Foryears, a coalition of community and church groups advocated for a supermarket and tried to convince Safewayor Albertsons to locate in the area, but both of the chains refused, citing lack of profitability and crime asbarriers.98 A new independent grocery store opened in 2000, but many residents feel the store caters primarilyto Oakland’s Korean residents—almost none of whom live in West Oakland.

In 2001, a group of concerned residents, community-based organizations, and social service agencies formedthe West Oakland Food Collaborative (WOFC) to increase access to nutritious and affordable food whilestimulating community economic development. The University of California, Davis gave the group a smallplanning grant to undertake a nine-month planning process to decide on a community strategy. The processresulted in the identification of five priority areas including: a thriving farmers’ market, small businessdevelopment, a cooperative marketplace, liquor store “conversion,” and community greenspace. The groupsecured additional funds from The California Endowment and other funders to begin putting its plan into action.

The cornerstone of their effort is the Mandela Farmers’ Market, which opened in April 2003. One of the ideasbehind the market is to connect black farmers—who suffer greatly from the displacement of small family farmsfrom large industrial producers—to the community, which has a rich history of being a center for black culture.Every Saturday, farmers sell fresh, mainly organic, produce, and local residents sell jams, baked goods, jewelry,and other items. WOFC helped start up the farmers’ market, finding a site, completing paperwork to become acertified farmers’ market, and, with help from The California Farmers’ Market EBT Project based at The EcologyCenter in Berkeley, obtained the authorization and equipment needed to accept EBT cards. The collaborativealso provides ongoing support, providing the farmers and vendors with equipment, training, resources, andtechnical assistance. WOFC also helps residents get to the market. It runs a free, weekly shuttle bus servicethat stops at senior residential facilities, the West Oakland Health Center, and other neighborhood locationswith limited public transportation access. The group plans to add benefits screening and application services at the farmers’ market to help residents apply for public benefits such as WIC, food stamps, and Medi-Cal.

The market is doing well and turnout is increasing, with about 200 customers a week. Nearly 70 percent of the customers are local residents. The prices are excellent: a survey found that Mandela Farmers’ Marketoffered the lowest prices of the 90 Bay Area farmers’ markets. WOFC hopes that the market will be self-sustaining within three years.99 In the meantime, the group continues to work on its other priority areas to ensure a “food secure” West Oakland: developing community-owned gardens and increasing access to other greenspace; persuading corner stores to sell healthier products; helping small businesses by developing a food distribution and delivery system and providing access to a commercial kitchen; anddeveloping a locally-owned food cooperative.


Other Options

A number of alternative strategies exist thatcan improve community access to healthyfoods. They include:

Improving transportation. Transportationprojects can help residents of underservedcommunities reach grocery stores and farmers’markets. In the low-income community ofNorth Sacramento, residents have to travelsix miles to reach a supermarket.100 In 1999,a coalition of community groups helpedimplement a Neighborhood Ride Shuttle,which, for a 50 cent fare, transports residentsto jobs and grocery stores located in otherparts of the city. The program, initiated as apilot project, has been integrated into theregional transportation system, and the routesare so popular that they are earning profits.A similar “grocery bus” route was establishedin East Austin, Texas to link residents of theprimarily low-income, Latino communitywith two supermarkets.101 Some of the stateagencies administering the Seniors’ FarmersMarket Nutrition Program have alsoincluded transportation elements to theirprograms, partnering with senior centers to provide transportation to and from thefarmers’ markets.102

Public markets. Farmers’ markets are oneform of a “public market.” Other publicmarkets—also called “mercados”—are housedin a permanent structure, are often open yearround, and hold regular business hours. Theyrent stalls to vendors, who may sell food ornon-food items. The mix of goods sold at apublic market can vary greatly. In recent years,there has been increasing attention placed

on public markets as components of urbanrevitalization, and the social and economicbenefits they may bring for low-incomecommunities.103 The Fondy Food CenterProject is an example of how a public market can provide food access as well asentrepreneurial opportunities. Fondy FoodCenter is a $5 million market hall, seasonalfarmers’ market, and business incubatorlocated in Milwaukee’s poorest community.104

The 22,000 square foot venue provides spacefor 20 to 30 small businesses.105

Mobile markets. Imagine an ice cream truckstocked with produce and healthy snacksinstead of creamsicles, and you have capturedthe essence of mobile markets—a new,community-based strategy for increasing food access in communities without goodgrocery stores. People’s Grocery, which is amember of the West Oakland Food Cooperativedescribed on page 37, is one example of amobile market. On Tuesdays and Saturdays,neighborhood youth interns drive the brightlypainted truck, equipped with a solar-poweredsound system, to a number of selling points in the neighborhood. While they sell fresh,organic produce obtained from local farmers’markets, they also talk to communityresidents about nutrition and health.

Cooperative grocery stores. Cooperative storesare either owned by their employees or ownedby their customers. The idea grew out of thenatural foods movement in the 1970s, andhas generally been successful in higher- ormixed-income communities. Like farmers’markets and public markets, cooperatives servea social mission as well as a profit-makingmission. Coops face the same challenges as


small groceries with respect to purchasingmerchandise at low prices, and they requiremember education in order for the ownershipstructure to work. In a number of instances,coops have developed to fill the grocery gapin underserved communities, but have goneout of business soon after a grocery storeopens nearby. The Remington Food Coop,for example, served a working classneighborhood of Baltimore for a decade until a supermarket opened in the area.106

Farm-to-school initiatives. Recognizing theimportance of school lunches to thenutrition and eating habits of youth, anumber of “farm-to-school” programs arosein the 1990s to increase the nutritionalvalue, quality, freshness, and appeal ofcafeteria lunches in public schools.California is the leader in what has becomea virtual movement, with 30 school districtsthroughout the state now purchasing localfarm produce from farmers or farmers’ marketsto incorporate in salad bars and hot lunches.107

Though more of the initiatives have beenlaunched in middle- and upper-incomecommunities, the strategy also holds promisefor low-income communities.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). CSAprograms-about 600 across the country-connectindividual households with produce fromlocal farms. At the beginning of the growingseason, participants purchase shares for a portion of the crops from a farm or anetwork of farms in exchange for weekly orbiweekly boxes of fresh produce. The systemprovides customers with low prices andprovides farmers with upfront operatingcapital for the season. The participants share

in the risks of farming, so the amount offood they receive depends on the quality ofthe harvest that year. Delivery options vary:boxes may be delivered to individual homesor to a few central sites in the community.CSA programs often accept food stamps andsome programs are reaching out to low-incomecustomers by subsidizing their shares.

Community Gardens. Increasing numbers ofcommunity gardens have been establishedon vacant lots in inner cities. The AmericanCommunity Gardening Association estimatesthat there are 10,000 community gardens in the United States, with New York Citycontaining the most of any city.108 Thesegardens vary in terms of the size of the lot,and the number of gardeners. They arelinked with a number of benefits beyondfood access, including environmentaleducation and neighborhood green space,but they can translate into significant foodbudget savings. In Philadelphia, communitygardeners reported an annual savings on food bills of $700 per family.109

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It is difficult for low-income communities of color, the very communities facing thehighest rates of obesity, to access healthyfood. Those most at risk of obesity andrelated health conditions should not alsoface the greatest barriers to making healthychoices about their diets. Access toaffordable, healthy food can be achieved in underserved neighborhoods.

Communities should not have to do thiswork alone. To address the obesity crisis,policymakers, foundations, communityorganizations, concerned residents, businessleaders, researchers, and advocates can jointogether to identify and implementinnovative solutions.

State government can take a leadership role in developing initiatives to address the“grocery gap” in underserved communities.California can create sources of low-costfinancing, replicating Pennsylvania’sinnovative economic stimulus and healthyfood retailing legislation. The state can also expand existing policies and programsthat hold promise for increasing healthy food access, such as the WIC FarmersMarket Nutrition Program and the EBT pilot program.

Local governments can adopt healthy foodretailing as a priority for comprehensiveneighborhood development. Municipalitiescan dedicate local economic developmentresources toward implementing new optionsfor food access in underserved communities,through incentives such as grants, taxbreaks, and low-interest loans. They canreduce barriers to healthy food retailing bycleaning up brownfields and reclaimingvacant land, and they can marketunderserved neighborhoods to healthy foodretailers using accurate data sources onneighborhood conditions. City communitydevelopment agencies can dedicate smallbusiness development resources and conductoutreach to assist corner stores that want toincrease their selection of healthy foods andimprove the overall quality of their stores.

Food retailers can reconsider assumptionsabout the feasibility of supermarkets in low-income areas and rethink outdatedmodels. They can begin by using alternativemarket analyses that accurately reflect the business opportunities of inner cityneighborhoods, and by recognizing the higheraggregate purchasing power that exists indense urban neighborhoods (despite loweraverage incomes). Firms that have successfully

Conclusion

Conclusion 41

located in low-income communities canshare their success and encourage others to locate in underserved areas.

Hospitals, health maintenance organizations,and other local institutions and businessescan implement creative programs to provide healthy food to local residents,clients, and staff, including programs similar to the farmers’ market modeldeveloped by the Kaiser Permanente Health Maintenance Organization.

State and local government, businesses, andprivate foundations can provide resources tosupport efforts to increase access to healthyfood. This could take the form of fundinginnovative campaigns, pilot programs, andlarge-scale initiatives, as well as providingresources for technical assistance tocommunity organizations and retailers.

Community based organizations and foodadvocacy groups can develop new ideas forincreasing access to healthy food, researchpotential solutions, collaborate with otherorganizations to share effective strategies,and pursue and replicate effective campaignsand programs. They can educate theirmembers, community residents, andpolicymakers about the best possiblestrategies for their communities to obtainhealthier food choices and advocate for adoption and implementation.

Increasing healthy food access in underservedcommunities can move localities and thestate closer to multiple goals. It can make adifference in dietary behaviors and obesity,

and ultimately improve the health ofresidents across the state. It can benefitbusinesses, whether grocery stores, cornerstore owners, or farmers. Ultimately, it can help ensure that Californians live in thriving communities that nurture health and possibilities for jobs, newdevelopment, enhanced neighborhoodassets, and opportunities.

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1 See Cancer Prevention and Nutrition Section, California Department of Health Services, Community Solutions to Limited Retail Access inAfrican American Communities (Sacramento, CA: 2004).2 See AH Mokdad et al., “Obesity Trends Among U.S. Adults: BRFSS 1999,” The Journal of the American Medical Association, no. 284(2000):13; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for ChronicDisease Prevention and Health Promotion, “Trends Data,” retrieved fromhttp://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/brfss/Trends/trendchart.asp?qkey=10010&state=US. 3 See U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity,retrieved from http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/obesity/. Capital Region Information Service of New York, Healthy People 2000,retrieved from http://www.crisny.org/health/us/health7.html.4 See U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Office of the Surgeon General, 2001). 5 See Amanda Shaffer, The Persistence of L.A.’s Grocery Gap: The Need for a New Food Policy and Approach to Market Development(Los Angeles, CA: Center for Food and Justice, Urban and Environmental Policy Institute, Occidental College, 2002). Morland, K., Wing,S., Deiz Roux, A., and Poole, C., “Neighborhood Characteristics Associated with the Location of Food Stores and Food Service Places,”American Journal of Preventive Medicine, no. 22 (2002): 23-29. Nayga, R., and Weinberg, Z., “Supermarket Access in the Inner City,”Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, no. 6 (1999): 141-145.6 The original grocery store was a Food 4 Less, which was later sold to become a Food Maxx.7 See Amanda Shaffer, The Persistence of L.A.’s Grocery Gap: The Need for a New Food Policy and Approach to Market Development(Los Angeles, CA: Center for Food and Justice, Urban and Environmental Policy Institute, Occidental College, 2002).8 See K. Morland et al, “Neighborhood Characteristics Associated with the Location of Food Stores and Food Service Places,” American Journal of Preventive Medicine, no. 22 (2002): 23-29.9 See A. Helling et al, “Race and Residential Accessibility to Shopping and Services,” Housing Policy Debate, no. 14 (2003): 69-101.10 See U.S. Census Bureau, “Summary File 3,” 2000 Census, retrieved from http://www.census.gov/.11 See Transportation and Land Use Coalition, Roadblocks to Health: Transportation Barriers to Healthy Communities (2002).12 See S. Handy et al, “Measuring Accessibility: An Exploration of Issues and Alternatives,” Environment and Planning A, no. 29 (1997): 1175-1194.13 See “Southwest Fresno Group Lobbies for Major Grocery Store,” The Fresno Bee, 17 June 1995.14 See Phillip R. Kaufman et al., Do the Poor Pay More for Food? Item Selection and Price Differences Affect Low-Income Household Food Costs,(Washington, D.C.: US Department of Agriculture, 1997).15 See Food First Institute for Food and Development Policy, Redlining Food: How to Ensure Community Food Security, retrieved fromwww.foodfirst.org/progs/humanrts/redlining.html.16 See K. Morland et al, “The Contextual Effect of the Local Food Environment on Residents’ Diets: The Atherosclerosis Risk inCommunities Study,” American Journal of Public Health, no. 11 (2002): 1761-1767.17 See N. Wrigley et al, “Deprivation, Diet and Food Retail Access: Findings from the Leeds ‘Food Deserts’ Study,” Environment and Planning A, no. 34 (2002).18 See The Food Trust, Farmer’s Market Program Evaluation 2004, retrieved fromhttp://www.thefoodtrust.org/catalog/resource.detail.php?product_id=68.19 See The Boston Consulting Group and The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, The Business Case for Pursuing Retail Opportunities in the Inner City (Boston, MA: Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, 1998). This estimate does not include unrecorded income from legalactivities, which is another $15 billion.20 Rick Jacobus, Economic Development Consultant. Interviewed by PolicyLink, December 2004.21 See Barbara Abell, Overcoming Obstacles to CDC Supermarket Development, A Guide (Washington, D.C.: National Congress for CommunityEconomic Development).22 See Phil R. Kaufman, “Rural Poor Have Less Access to Supermarkets, Large Grocery Stores,” Rural Development Perspectives, no. 13 (1999): 19-26.

Notes

Notes 43

23 Ibid.24 See Sarah E. Samuels et al., The Social and Environmental Experience of Diabetes: Implications for Diabetes Prevention, Management andTreatment Programs: A Series of Case Studies (San Francisco, CA: The California Endowment, 2004).25 See Barbara Abell, Overcoming Obstacles to CDC Supermarket Development, A Guide (Washington, D.C.: National Congress for CommunityEconomic Development).26 See Fresno Metro Ministry press release, Selma Flea Market Goes High-Tech: Customers Can Now Use Food Stamps to Buy Fresh Produce,retrieved from http://www.fresnometroministry.org/fmm/pdfs/PRESS_RELEASE_Selma_EBT_12_04.pdf.27 See the Federal Housing Administration Underwriting Manual: Underwriting and Valuation Procedure Under Title II of the National HousingAct (1938). For an excellent history of federal housing policy and suburbanization, see Chapter 11 of Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanizationof the United States by Kenneth T. Jackson.28 See Economic Developments National Council for Urban Economic Development, Food for Thought: Rochester Invests in Inner City GroceryStores Development, February 1, 1997, vol. 22, no. 3. As cited in “Supermarket Access in Low-Income Communities”http://www.healthpolicycoach.org/doc.asp?id=6375. 29 See K. Morland et al, “The Contextual Effect of the Local Food Environment on Residents’ Diets: The Atherosclerosis Risk inCommunities Study,” American Journal of Public Health, no. 11 (2002): 1761-1767.30 See Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, The Changing Models of Inner City Grocery Retailing (Boston, MA: 2002).31 See John Pawasarat et al., Exposing Urban Legends: The Real Purchasing Power of Central City Neighborhoods (The Brookings Institution, 2001),retrieved from http://www.brookings.edu/es/urban/pawasarat.pdf. See The Boston Consulting Group and The Initiative for a CompetitiveInner City, The Business Case for Pursuing Retail Opportunities in the Inner City, retrieved fromhttp://www.icic.org/research/pdf/pdf_2_The_Business_Case.pdf.32 See D’Vera Cohn, “Retail Potential Found in 2 Areas,” Washington Post, 18 July 2002, retrieved fromhttp://www.socialcompact.org/pdfs/Washington%20Post%207.18.02.pdf.33 See John Pawasarat et al., Exposing Urban Legends: The Real Purchasing Power of Central City Neighborhoods (The Brookings Institution, 2001),retrieved from http://www.brookings.edu/es/urban/pawasarat.pdf.34 See Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, The Changing Models of Inner City Grocery Retailing (Boston, MA: 2002). Cynthia Stewart etal., Development in Underserved Retail Markets (International Council of Shopping Centers and Business for Social Responsibility, 2002).Barbara Abell, Overcoming Obstacles to CDC Supermarket Development, A Guide (Washington, D.C.: National Congress for CommunityEconomic Development).35 See The Food Trust, Philadelphia City Council Calls for Hearings on Supermarket Development to be Held in May, 2004, retrieved fromhttp://www.thefoodtrust.org/catalog/resource.detail.php?product_id=60.36 See William Frey, et al., Melting Pot Suburbs: A Census 2000 Study of Suburban Diversity, (The Brookings Institution Center on Urban andMetropolitan Policy, 2001), retrieved from http://www.frey-demographer.org/reports/billf.pdf.37 See K. Siedenburg et al, “Community Food Assessment: A Tool to Develop Better Food Systems,” Community Food Security News, Spring 2004.38 See Ed Bolen et al., Neighborhood Groceries: New Access to Healthy Food in Low-Income Communities, (San Francisco, CA: California FoodPolicy Advocates, 2003).39 See Southland Farmers’ Market Association, How to Start a Farmers’ Market, retrieved fromhttp://www.cafarmersmarkets.org/aboutsfma/how2start.shtml.40 See Food Marketing Institute, “Key Industry Facts,” retrieved from http://www.fmi.org/facts_figs/keyfacts/weeklysales.htm.41 See www.save-a-lot.com.42 See Barbara Abell, Supermarket Development: CDCs and Inner City Economic Development (Washington, D.C.: National Congress forCommunity Economic Development, 1998). An estimate based on the 16 projects they reviewed. For information on local hiring strategies,see www.policylink.org/EDTK/LocalHiring. 43 See Cynthia Stewart et al., Development in Underserved Retail Markets (International Council of Shopping Centers and Business for SocialResponsibility, 2002).44 See Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, The Changing Models of Inner City Grocery Retailing (Boston, MA: 2002).45 See Barbara Abell, Overcoming Obstacles to CDC Supermarket Development, A Guide (Washington, D.C.: National Congress for CommunityEconomic Development).46 Ibid.47 Ibid.48 For more information on local hiring strategies, see www.policylink.org/EDTK/LocalHiring.49 See Richard Turcsik, “Taking Root: A Suburban-style Pathmark Blossoms in New York’s Harlem,” Progressive Grocer, vol. 78, no. 7: 1999. 50 See San Francisco Bay Area LISC Financing at www.lisc.org/bay_area/programs/financing_5042.shtml. 51 Available at www.uwm.edu/Dept/ETI/PurchasingPower/purchasing.htm. 52 Jacobus, interview, December 2004.53 See Vidhya Mohan et al., Supermarket Shuttle Programs: A Feasibility Study for Supermarkets Located in Low-Income, Transit-Dependent UrbanNeighborhoods in California, (Davis, CA: Center for Advanced Studies in Nutrition and Social Marketing, 2002).


Notes (continued)

54 See Paul C. Brophy et al., Seizing City Assets, (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 2002), retrieved fromhttp://www.ceosforcities.org/research/2002/land_reform/brophyveyvacantsteps.pdf. 55 See “O’Malley for Mayor,” The Baltimore Sun, October 24, 2004, retrieved from http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-ed.mayoral24oct24,0,5640861.story. 56 See Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, The Changing Models of Inner City Grocery Retailing (Boston, MA: 2002).57 Ibid.58 Ibid.59 See K. Pothukuchi, “Attracting Supermarkets to Inner-City Neighborhoods: Economic Development Outside the Box,” Economic Development Quarterly, Vol. 19, No. 3, (2005): 232-244.60 See Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, The Changing Models of Inner City Grocery Retailing (Boston, MA: 2002).61 The Food Trust, Stimulating Supermarket Development: A New Day for Philadelphia, retrieved fromhttp://www.thefoodtrust.org/catalog/resource.detail.php?product_id=47. 62 See The Reinvestment Fund, Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative: Providing Healthy Food Choices in Pennsylvania’sCommunities, retrieved from http://www.trfund.com/financing/fffi.htm. 63 See Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Pennsylvania Officials Announce Plans to Attract Supermarkets to Underserved Areas, retrievedfrom www.agriculture.state.pa.us/agriculture/CWP/view.asp?A=390&QUESTION_ID=131029.64 See Ed Bolen et al., Neighborhood Groceries: New Access to Healthy Food in Low-Income Communities, (San Francisco, CA: California FoodPolicy Advocates, 2003). Cynthia Stewart et al., Development in Underserved Retail Markets (International Council of Shopping Centers andBusiness for Social Responsibility, 2002).65 See L. Alwitt et al, “Retail Stores in Poor Urban Neighborhoods,” The Journal of Consumer Affairs, no. 31, (1997): 139-164.66 Jim Weaver, Empower Partners, Lancaster, PA. Interviewed by PolicyLink, July 2005.67 See Dennis Farmer, “Dynamics of the LA Supermarket Industry,” (Center for Regional Employment Strategies, 2003), retrieved fromhttp://www.cresla.org/supermarket.pdf.68 Rick Jacobus, Economic Development Consultant. Interviewed by PolicyLink, December 2004.69 Generally defined as businesses with sales of up to $750,000 per year.70 See Ed Bolen et al., Neighborhood Groceries: New Access to Healthy Food in Low-Income Communities, (San Francisco, CA: California FoodPolicy Advocates, 2003).71 See Tara Duggan, “Bringing Healthy Produce to Poor Neighborhoods,” San Francisco Chronicle, 16 July 2004, retrieved fromhttp://temp.sfgov.org/sfenvironment/articles_pr/2004/article/071604.htm.72 See Food Security Learning Center, “Farmers’ Markets FAQs,” retrieved from http://www.worldhungeryear.org/fslc/faqs/ria_048.asp#2.73 See California Federation of Certified Farmers’ Markets at http://www.cafarmersmarkets.com/.74 See USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, Adding Values to Our Food System: An Economic Analysis ofSustainable Community Food Systems (Everson, WA: Integrity Systems Cooperative, 1997). As cited in Simon Bullock, Economic Benefits ofFarmers’ Markets, Friends of the Earth, http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/farmers_markets.pdf.75 See Southland Farmers’ Market Association, Value Pricing at Southland Farmers’ Markets, retrieved fromhttp://www.cafarmersmarkets.org/consumer/pricestudy.shtml.76 See The Ford Foundation, Project for Public Spaces, Inc., and Partners for Livable Communities, Public Markets as a Vehicle for SocialIntegration and Upward Mobility, Phase I Report: An Overview of Existing Programs and Assessment of Opportunities (2003), retrieved fromhttp://www.pps.org/pdf/Ford_Report.pdf.77 Ibid.78 See Andy Fisher, Hot Peppers and Parking Lot Peaches: Evaluating Farmers’ Markets in Low Income Communities (Venice, CA: CommunityFood Security Coalition, 1999).79 Penny Leff, Berkeley Ecology Center, Berkeley, CA. Interviewed by PolicyLink, December 2004.80 See State of California, “Electronic Benefit Transfer Project,” retrieved from http://www.ebtproject.ca.gov/County_cash_decisions.htm.81 See California Food Policy Advocates, “California WIC Facts,” retrieved from http://www.cfpa.net/WIC/california_wic_facts.htm.82 See Food and Nutrition Service, “WIC Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program,” retrieved from www.fns.usda.gov/wic/FMNP/FMNPfaqs.htm.83 See Andy Fisher, Hot Peppers and Parking Lot Peaches: Evaluating Farmers’ Markets in Low Income Communities (Venice, CA: CommunityFood Security Coalition, 1999).84 Ibid.85 Ibid.86 See Food and Nutrition Service, “WIC Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program,” retrieved from www.fns.usda.gov/wic/FMNP/FMNPfaqs.htm.87 Ibid.88 Patty Blomberg, Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program, California WIC Program, Sacramento, CA. Interviewed by PolicyLink, February 2005.89 See Barbara C. Bellows et al., Bringing Local Food to Local Institutions: A Resource Guide for Farm-to-School and Farm-to-Institution Programs(National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, 2003).

Notes 45

90 Penny Leff, The Ecology Center of Berkeley/The Farmers’ Market EBT Program. Interviewed by PolicyLink, December 2004.91 See Mary MacVean, “If You Build It, Children Will Come to the Salad Bar,” Los Angeles Times, 4 November 2004, retrieved fromhttp://www.organicconsumers.org/school/salad111704.cfm.92 See Food and Nutrition Service, “EBT Farmers’ Market Demonstration Project Update,” retrieved fromhttp://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/ebt/ebt_farmers_markstatus.htm.93 See letter from State of California Department of Social Services to All County Welfare Directors, All EBT Coordinators, and All FoodStamp Coordinators, 29 March 2004, Client Outreach to Promote Use of Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Cards Use at Authorized Farmers’Markets, retrieved from http://www.dss.cahwnet.gov/getinfo/acin04/pdf/I-15_04.pdf.94 Health and Human Services Data Center, Draft Interim Report, Demonstration of Wireless Point of Sale Devices in the Farmers’ MarketEnvironment. April 5, 2005.95 See U.S. Department of Agriculture, “National Directory of Farmers Market and Direct Marketing Associations 2001,” retrieved fromhttp://www.ams.usda.gov/directmarketing/associations.htm.96 See Southland Farmers’ Market Association at http://www.cafarmersmarkets.org/.97 See J. Abel et al, “Extension’s Role with Farmers’ Markets: Working with Farmers, Consumers, and Communities,” Journal of Extension,no. 37 (1999), retrieved from www.joe.org/joe/1999october/a4.html.98 See Community Food Security Coalition, Weaving the Food Web, retrieved from http://www.foodsecurity.org/CFSCguide-foodweb.pdf.99 Dana Harvey, West Oakland Food Collaborative, Oakland, CA. Interviewed by PolicyLink, December 2004.100 See Community Food Security Coalition, Weaving the Food Web, retrieved from http://www.foodsecurity.org/CFSCguide-foodweb.pdf.101 See UCLA Pollution Prevention Education and Research Center, Homeward Bound: Food-Related Transportation Strategies in Low Incomeand Transit-Dependent Communities (Los Angeles, CA: 1997).102 See U.S. Department of Agriculture, “Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Programs,” retrieved fromhttp://www.nemw.org/farmersmarkets/senior.html.103 See The W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Project for Public Spaces, Inc., Public Markets and Community-Based Food Systems: Making ThemWork in Lower-Income Neighborhoods, retrieved from http://www.pps.org/pdf/kellogg_report.pdf.104 See Hunger Task Force, press release, Quest Card Now Accepted at Fondy Food Center, retrieved fromhttp://www.hungertaskforce.org/Quest.html.105 See Fondy Farmers Market, “Fondy Facts,” retrieved from http://www.fondymarket.org/faq.htm.106 See Ed Bolen et al., Neighborhood Groceries: New Access to Healthy Food in Low-Income Communities, (San Francisco, CA: California FoodPolicy Advocates, 2003).107 See National Farm to School Program, “California State Profile,” retrieved from http://www.farmtoschool.org/ca/.108 See Community Food Security Coalition, “Who is Raising Food in Cities? From Backyard Gardeners to Commercial Growers,” retrievedfrom http://www.foodsecurity.org/urbanag.html#IV.109 Ibid.

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Bibliography (continued)

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AcknowledgmentsPolicyLink is grateful to The California Endowment for supporting the development and publication of this report. We would like to thank reviewers MarionStandish, program director at The California Endowment,Rick Jacobus, economic development consultant, andHannah Burton, program coordinator at The Food Trust,along with the many practitioners interviewed, for theirfeedback in the development of this report. Helpful background information for this report was provided by the California 5 a Day Campaign, a program of theCalifornia Department of Health Services, through itsdraft paper, Community Solutions to Limited Access inAfrican American Communities.1

All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2005 PolicyLink and The California Endowment

Principal AuthorsRebecca FlournoySarah Treuhaft

PolicyLink TeamJudith Bell Latonia Ellingberg Victor RubinMilly Hawk Daniel Katrin Kärk Mildred Thompson

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Turcsik, Richard. “Taking Root: A Suburban-style Pathmark Blossoms in New York’s Harlem.” Progressive Grocer, vol. 78, no. 7. 1999. UCLA Pollution Prevention Education and Research Center, Homeward Bound: Food-Related Transportation Strategies in Low Income and Transit-Dependent Communities. Los Angeles, CA: University of California, Los Angeles, 1997.

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PolicyLink is a national, nonprofit research, communications,capacity building, and advocacy organization, dedicated toadvancing policies to achieve economic and social equity basedon the wisdom, voice, and experience of local constituencies.


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